Tag Archives: rant

There is nothing more frustrating and disheartening than trying to find a job after graduation.

Let’s start this off with the fact that I have not one but TWO degrees. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Communication (with a concentration in Public Relations) and a Bachelor’s of Arts in English. What’s the difference between Science and Arts? I guess just the department under which the major falls. Ironically, at my university, Communication is in the School of Communication and Fine Arts and yet, Science degree? Whatever. Not the point.

I have two degrees but both basically guarantee me to be jobless for the foreseeable future.

You want to know why I’m going to be jobless for the foreseeable future? I can’t afford to move to any of the cities in which I could actually find a job. I’d need to move a minimum of 3 hours away from my home town and an hour and a half away from the place I currently live where the lease runs out in July.

To make matters even worse, all of the jobs for which I’m actually qualified are all closer to the 10+ hours away range, in cities I am nowhere near able to afford at this moment. It’s really unfortunate.

So, how many of you have heard about the student from Duke University who was recently outted for doing porn? I’ve been hearing so many attacks of this poor girl for the last few weeks and I’m getting tired of it. If you haven’t: here’s a screen shot of the top news stories when you google ‘Duke porn star.’

The girl, professionally known as Belle Knox, is a freshman at Duke University. She turned to porn as a way to help pay the $60,000 tuition to attend this prestigious private university. She only revealed her professional identity in this article near the end of February.

Now, for those of you still caring enough to actually read this far without get distracted watching her videos (I mentioned it to a friend and he went to look up the scandal only to text me back three hours later because he was ‘busy’ with her videos… Boys), let’s talk about why this is driving me up the fucking wall.

I live in North Carolina. In fact, my university is only 90 minutes or so from Duke. In fact, my former roommate is in the nursing program at Duke right now. On top of that, I live in a college town. I’m a recently graduated college student that, come June, is going to have a TON of debt thanks to the degrees I sought at college. Basically, I relate to this girl.

Now, let’s talk about this scandal. Last time I checked, Belle Knox is an adult. Legally, you can’t do porn in the US unless you’re 18 years old. One of the perks of being a legal adult is that you can make your own decisions. Whether those decisions involve what house you’re going to buy, what car you’re going to drive, or who you’re going to have sex with, they’re still your decisions and your decisions ALONE. She wants to make money by having sex on camera, more power to you boo.

Duke is one of the top ten universities in the country, according to this article. If you’re familiar with the US college system, you’ll notice that only TWO of those ten colleges aren’t Ivy League Schools (aka the most prestigious schools in the country). If you follow the link about Duke in that article, you’ll learn that most students admitted to Duke have a 4.0 GPA and insanely high test scores.

What does this matter? Well, that means that Belle Knox is INTELLIGENT. She’s not just a pretty face but she’s also ridiculously smart.

This all adds up to the fact that Belle Knox is getting hated and attacked for being a smart girl in need of financial security. In fact, she will probably graduate debt-free and that’s almost unheard of for a college with as high of costs as Duke.

As a recent college graduate with a rather high GPA myself, I completely relate to this woman. If there was a way for me to avoid my own $15,000 of student loans, I wouldn’t turn it down either. I’m not saying I’d do porn because I am nowhere near as attractive as this woman. However, I can’t fault her for proactively educating herself and do so in a way to guarantee a minimum debt.

I just really wish everyone would stop attacking her for being an adult, making adult decisions, and doing what’s best for her to accomplish her goals. It may not be my first choice or even the best choice for most people, but it’s working for her and that’s all that matters.